John Seerey-Lester

With work handing at the White House and in permanent, private and Museum collections, throughout the world, John Seerey-Lester has become one of the most renowned wildlife and historic artists in the world today.

Since moving to America over 25 years ago, and making it his base of operation, he has continued to travel the world in search of images. Preferring to paint from life, he has visited such diverse locations as Africa, China (where he painted the rare Giant Panda in the wild), India, The Arctic and Antarctica as well as Central and South America. It was a visit to East Africa over 30 years ago that gave birth to his interest in wildlife. Published by Mill Pond Press, John has had over 350 different limited edition prints produced over the years.

Before this, in his native England, John gained enormous popularity through his paintings of nostalgic scenes of Victorian and Edwardian times. Now he has combined that early fascination for historic themes with his continuing interest in wildlife to capture in paint, the golden age of the White Hunter and the hunting heritage of North America. In a new series of paintings, John is revisiting the late 1800’s and early 1900’s in what is becoming his most successful work.

John has gained a reputation over the years for producing images with a mysterious and a mystical appeal, now he has taken this skill to produce a remarkable series of paintings depicting historic hunts and safari legends. These will eventually be featured in a limited edition book.

John has received many awards and much recognition for his outstanding achievements in the field of wildlife art. He was presented to His Royal Highness Prince Phillip and was commended for his work in conservation. He has been chosen to exhibit works in the prestigious Leigh Yawkey Woodson Art Museum’s “Birds in Art” and “Wildlife: An Artist’s View”, shows each year since 1983 and his paintings are in their permanent collection. He has also displayed in several other Museums such as the Gilcrease Museum, and National Museum of Wildlife Art, and in many other permanent collections such as Bennington Center for the Arts, and Nature in Art Museum. John was Artist of the Year and featured artist for: South Eastern Wildlife Expo, Miniature ’85, Pac Rim Wildlife Art Show, Florida Wildlife Expo , 7th Annual South East Invitational Miniature Show , Celebration Weekend and presented with the Key to the City of Troy Ohio, Reflections of Nature to name a few. John was presented with the Award of Excellence and the Patricia Allen Bott Award for his Mara River Horse (2002), and again in (2006) for “White On White” by the Society of Animal Artists.

A book on his life and work was released in November 1991. The book, Face to Face with Nature: The Art of John Seerey-Lester, sold out in 1995. A second book titled Impressions of India and Nepal, based on his fieldwork there, was published soon after. His more recent book Painting Wildlife with John Seerey-Lester, which was published in 2003, has also sold out. His new book “Useppa A Passage in Time” was published in October 2007. “Useppa” won a silver medal for its images and outstanding historical content. His latest coffee table book called “Legends of the Hunt” will have 100 of John’s Historic Hunt Paintings, and 100 true hunting stories to accompany them. This book will be available early in 2010.

Today he lives in Florida, with his wife and fellow wildlife artist Suzie whom he married in January 2000 on Useppa Island, in Southwest Florida.